Julie: Spray-inked, shimmer-painted and masked journal backgrounds.

Hello again.

I've got another minibook to share with you today, this time using the Onirie 'Sweetness of Living' paper range:

... plus a few shimmery extras:

It began life as tag book with perfectly useable inner pages ... but that slightly dated cover wasn't exactly inspiring me!

So, I removed the covers from the ring binding and covered them in 'Gentle' - a sheet of the Onirie paper:

Then I set about adding some shimmery backgrounds to each page inside. To do this I used:

• Shimmerz paints and spritzers in shades of blue, green, brown and gold;

And various masks/stencils including -

• different styles of sequin-waste; and
• the outer surrounds of a cardstock sticker sheet once all the stickers had been removed.

I used a sponge to dab and swirl the paint through the sequin waste:

Whenever I used a mask the 'usual' way - by painting or spraying through the punched-out holes ...

... I always then flipped the mask over while the paint or ink was still wet and pressed it down firmly on to the next tag.

Not only is this method great for using up all tha ink which could go to waste ... it also creates a great 'opposite' design to the one you created originally:

Finally, I took a plain woodboard shape:

... and gave it a coating of Shimmerz paint in 'Jilted Jade' which I then sanded for a distressed-yet-sparkly title for my book:

If you'd like to see some of the 'freaky friends' I've been creating inside, then hop over to this post my blog and I'll offically introduce you!

After that ... go dig out that sequin waste you've got in the back of a drawer somewhere - or take a look at all those old sticker sheets you could put to better use as a stencil/mask. As always, I'd love to see the fruits of your crafty-labours if you give it a go!

Happy crafting.

Julie